Eitzen Group subsidiary orders two fully electric container ships

Norwegian shipping company Eitzen Group, through its subsidiary Zen, has placed an order for two fully electric container vessels at China’s Zhejiang Dongpeng Shipbuilding & Repairing.

IMAGE: Zen’s fully electric container ship concept. Oslo Port Authority

Each vessel will be equipped with battery packs of over 100 megawatt-hours (MWh) and will have the capacity to carry 900 TEUs. The ships are designed to operate over distances of 500–600 nautical miles.

“Electrification is no longer a concept of the future. It is becoming commercially viable today on selected trade routes,” Zen’s chief executive Fridtjof C. Eitzen said.

The shipyard is scheduled to deliver the first vessel within 24 months, followed by the second vessel three months later. The ships are expected to operate on container routes connecting Hamburg, Gothenburg and Oslo.

The vessels will be powered by batteries manufactured at the company’s facility in Tønsberg, Norway, according to Zen.

The batteries are designed to be waterproof and capable of withstanding immersion in water. They also offer twice the volumetric energy density of comparable battery solutions, the Oslo Port Authority stated.

“OPS [onshore power supply] infrastructure is now being rolled out in most larger Northern-European ports, driven by the AFIR regulations [Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation]. Charging can be performed simultaneously with cargo operations without slowing turnaround,” Zen’s David Mikal Knutsen said.

In a related development, Enova has awarded another Eitzen Group subsidiary, Eitzen Avanti, NOK 200 million ($21 million) to support the construction of two additional electric vessels. Enova is the Norwegian government’s climate and energy investment fund, which finances projects aimed at accelerating the adoption of green technologies.

By Tuhin Roy

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